Silicon Investor (SI) -- The First Internet Community

STOCKTALK

We've detected that you're using an ad content blocking browser plug-in or feature. Ads provide a critical source of revenue to the continued operation of Silicon Investor. We ask that you disable ad blocking while on Silicon Investor in the best interests of our community. If you are not using an ad blocker but are still receiving this message, make sure your browser's tracking protection is set to the 'standard' level.

Technology Stocks : Qualcomm Incorporated (QCOM) -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Rajala who wrote (15674)	9/29/1998 2:50:00 AM
From: Joe NYC	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 152472

Rajala, Peter, I can not see how the consumers of the States are going to benefit even in the long term. You are stuck with multitude of tehcnologies now and for the foreseeable future. This is what people said when they compared French Mini-tel (or whatever it was called) and multitude of incompatible systems in the US: Compuserve, Prodigy, AOL, Genie, TSN, Internet, bunch of small BBSs. Look what happened. You have more trust in bureaucrats than in inventors and entrepreneurs. I guess you will let them make the decisions for you. They know what's better for you. I think they used to call this industrial policy. Instead on marketplace, the bureaucrats would pick winners and losers. It has been thoroughly discredited in the United States, and wherever it was tried it failed. Joe

To: Rajala who wrote (15674)	9/29/1998 4:17:00 AM
From: Peter J Hudson	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 152472

Rajala, You say; "Roaming is bad, economies of scale bad, operator competition is bad - and will remain so. With a GSM and a laptop I have a beer in Bangkok airport and read my email. Also in Auckland - Mqurice, you must be happy about this little tidbit - and Singapore and Beijing, but sadly not in the States (perhaps in some particular cities). What's worse this will remain so, remember that the US is going to put forward 3 - 4 3G proposals." Roaming is bad? Not so bad if you're using AMPS in US. Bangkok, Aukland, Singapore and Beijing pretty small slice of the world. When the market demands world wide roaming, someone will provide it with the most efficient technology available. Operator competition bad? True operator competition can only exist when operators are free to choose, develop and promote the superior technology. Don't artificially promote competition by narrowing the product mix. Economies of scale bad? Economies of scale are the benefit a manufacturer receives for having a product with great demand. It creates lower cost of production that can be translated to lower prices or higher margins, which is the balancing act that makes free enterprise. Intel has had great economies of scale for years, but price didn't come down until they had competing technologies. I'm sure my clothing would be less expensive if the government mandated that Americans only wear a kaki uniform. Talk about economies of scale!!! Rajala, near as I can tell, the only thing we have in common philosophically is the laptop and the beer. Pete. Pete

To: Rajala who wrote (15674)	9/29/1998 9:11:00 PM
From: Drew Williams	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 152472

<< Roaming is bad, economies of scale bad, operator competition is bad - and will remain so. With a GSM and a laptop I have a beer in Bangkok airport and read my email. Also in Auckland - Mqurice, you must be happy about this little tidbit - and Singapore and Beijing, but sadly not in the States (perhaps in some particular cities). What's worse this will remain so, remember that the US is going to put forward 3 - 4 3G proposals. - rajala >> I wonder when you were in the USA last? Must have been a while. I've had cellular service for more than 10 years and have never had a problem with roaming anywhere I've gone. For me, it has always worked without incident. The more important factor has been the speed of the buildout, because as has been pointed out, Pennsylvania is a third world country. Locally (Philadelphia) and in most other major cities, I can choose between a bunch of different carriers employing every cellular/PCS technology with which I am familiar, including AMPS, CDMA, GSM (so you can use your phone here), and TDMA in various stages of buildout. I can speak from personal experience (excepting Omnipoint's GSM service) that they all work fine. I personally use Bell Atlantic Mobile's AMPS (my wife's company's provider) and Comcast Cellular's TDMA (my employer's provider). When her phone breaks in a couple of years, we'll probably move up to Bell Atlantic's CDMA or Sprint's CDMA PCS for the improved clarity and security -- along with Globalstar capabilities (the true "world phone.") As a QCOM investor, I would be really happy if there were one worldwide standard generating royalties for QCOM's CDMA IPR. As an American cellular user, I do not care, because what we have works, works better all the time, and is increasingly affordable. PS: Both my phones are Ericssons. The AMPS phone I bought before I knew they were the evil empire and the other I am forced to use by my employer, because Comcast Cellular is a major client of ours. They both work fine, but Comcast's TDMA service is clearer than Bell Atlantic Mobile's AMPS service. No surprise there.